the end of the vacation, we went to King Edward I’s castle at Caeraforn, The castle was built by Edward after he subjugated the northern welsh people. He wanted an amazing military fortress to dominate the country and express royal power. There is no question he got what he wanted. Everything about the castle says power and strength!

Additionally, his son, Edward II was born here and become known as the first Prince of Wales.

Instead of either square or round towers, Caeraforn features hexagonal towers. This design change allowed more bowmen to be placed in each tower and gave them directional flexability.

Placed near the ocean with towers as high as 128 feet, the views of the country side are vast. You can look out on the water to see any approaching ships or watch the land to see any advancing troops.

The kid had a good time imagining the castle full of warriors and bowmen at the ready to defend the place. Even The Captain was impressed by the design of the castle.

It was good to end our castle tour with such a spectacular building. Visiting it before the Marshal castles would have made them seem pretty insignificant. Although, to be fair to the Marshal castle they were built much early and they were not built by a king!

Back in the car we drove to the north Wales town of Llanduando (don’t ask me how to say it!) It is a Victorian seaside resort town full of B and Bs. Again, the weather was great and as a result the place was packed.

Personally, I didn’t love the place. It had a sort of trashy holiday feel. After a quick lunch, we started off on another of my walking tours. This one took us away from the own up a hill to the Great Orme. Personally, I think it was more of a hike than a walk so The Captain was having a great time. It might have been one the highlights of the trip for him. In true Captain fashion, at the end of the hike we strayed from the path and it took us a while to get back down the hill ad find our car.